Disney will launch its sans Song of the South, anyway) onto a streamer of their own.
Company CEO Bob Iger recently confirmed what industry analysts have long recognized - that Lady and the Tramp remake immediately available when the service launches.
Even with the combined might of fresh IP, classic Disney titles, and Fox movies and TV shows (including, all 30 seasons of spending upwards of $15 billion in 2019 alone. For the sake of comparison, Disney plans to spend $1 billion on original programming for Disney+ in its first year, with annual spending expected to rise to $2.5 billion by 2024.
This is where the issue of quality comes in. Disney's original content rates higher than Netflix and Amazon's on average when it comes to consumer perception, thanks to a combination of the Disney brand and the acclaimed franchises that the company owns, like the MCU, Star Wars, and Pixar Animation (if you think of Pixar's collective filmography as a franchise). Netflix has made some big gains in that department in recent years thanks to the Oscar-winning film Roma and new series like Russian Doll, but overall the streamer's name just isn't the guarantee of quality that Disney is right now. The streamer is determined to improve its standing in that area over the next year, but they've got a ways to go before they can compete with the Mouse House.
Meanwhile, Disney is hoping that the combination of a relatively low cost (with streaming bundle options available) and the weight that its name carries will be enough to get people to sign up in large numbers for Disney+ at launch. It's a risky move, even for a corporate monster as big as the House that Mickey Built, but one that could pay off handsomely, if successful. And the more that streamers like Disney+ succeed and push consumers to finally cut the cord on traditional pay TV, the more it actually benefits Netflix, Amazon, and the rest of the streaming gang.
Disney+ launches in the U.S. on November 12, 2019.
Source: Variety